The beginning is a couple of weeks earlier than usual. But, the work will be the same, the premise will be the same.

UTEP will open basketball practice Tuesday and will work on defense, work on fundamentals, work on piecing together the best team possible for a new basketball season.

The old starting date was Oct. 15, but new NCAA rules allow men's teams to start Oct. 1, something the women have been doing for several years.

"I actually talked to Keitha Adams (UTEP women's coach) about it," UTEP coach Tim Floyd said. "I have a lot of respect for Keitha and the ladies have been doing it this way for a while. Really, it's similar to the way it was in the 1980s and '90s when I was with Coach (Don) Haskins, before they moved the season up two weeks."

Floyd has always started with defense, with the basic building blocks of the game and, because of that, his teams have sometimes gotten off to a slow start -- because he puts the offense in last.

"Maybe we'll get off to a better start this way," Floyd said.

The Miners, who finished 18-14 overall and 10-6 in C-USA last year, open the regular season Nov. 9 with a home date against Loyola of New Orleans. They will hold an Orange-White scrimmage Oct. 26 and play Southeastern Oklahoma in an exhibition game on Nov. 2.

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"This time will just give us more time to implement what we want to do," Floyd said. "We lost our backcourt from last year (point guard Jacques Streeter and guard Konner Tucker), and we lost three recruits over the summer (including the most notable no-show, Isaac Hamilton) who would have been in the mix to replace them.

"But McKenzie Moore (6-foot-6 junior point guard) has more playing time under his belt," Floyd said. "Most people forget McKenzie had not played for two years when he became eligible at mid-term last year. This also opens up an opportunity for C.J. Cooper (junior sharp shooter)."

The Miners will return their top two scorers from last year in junior Julian Washburn and senior John Bohannon. The 6-foot-8 Washburn, who averaged 12.3 points a game, was third-team All-Conference USA and a member of the C-USA All-Defensive team. The 6-10 Bohannon averaged 10.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.

UTEP also has 6-9 Cedrick Lang and 6-6 Jalen Ragland, who along with Washburn, Moore and Cooper, give this team a strong junior class.

"We did get a bit of bad news last Monday," Floyd said. "Matt Willms (7-foot-1 freshman) has a partially torn labrum in his shoulder and, if he opts for surgery, that could be a five-month process."

Time will tell on Willms. But, on Tuesday, the rest of the Miners will begin working ... working on putting together something special for the 2013-14 season.

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